back to beds

We are just back from a (very) long weekend in the south-west. We first spent a couple of days with my aunt and uncle in Wiltshire, then went on down to Somerset to see friends and to visit St John’s and St Andrew’s, a parish which has adopted us as mission partners. My teenage years were spent there, and it was wonderful to go into both churches and see familiar, smiling faces.

Support raising can be quite a lonely business, so it did us good to be surrounded by welcoming, encouraging people who we know will be praying for us over the months to come.

Thanks to anyone who prayed for my back – it survived the weekend very well and actually feels better now than it did last week!

A couple of photos:

prayer request

I'd appreciate prayer for my back. Not that it's particularly bad at the moment, but I always have to be careful not to overdo things. Two of the worst things for my back are packing and travelling. And wouldn't you know it, those are two activities that feature highly in our life at the moment! My back is starting to feel the strain, so please do pray that I would be able to be wise about what I do and know when I need to rest it.

Support-raising is going slowly but steadily. The most difficult thing is not knowing whether we'll be leaving for Benin in November or not. So I don't know if I'm having my last month in the UK for a couple of years, or whether we'll be back here for several months over the winter. It's quite unsettling. At the same time, I'm impatient to leave - my last trip to Benin was in 2003, and I've been heading back ever since! But I have just about come round to accepting that God knows best, and that even though this November seems like the ideal time to arrive there (for several reasons), if we aren't able to leave then it will be for reasons that are just as valid.

love and bugs

We have just spent a very happy week with my sister Ruth and her family. They came and stayed at Mum and Dad’s, and Ali took the week off too, so we were all together! That doesn’t happen often, so we wanted to make the most of it. It was the first time I’d seen my nephew, Andrew, since he was about 4 days old – he’s now 17 months and a similar height to Simon.

I was a bit worried that Simon might not want to share his toys with someone else, but the two boys played very happily side by side most of the time. Simon became very attached to his cousin, and whenever he woke would ask for “Andoon”. For the rest of us it was great to have time and space for long chats, shopping trips and walks around the lake!

It was a very sad moment when we had to say goodbye again yesterday, but we try to hang onto the thankfulness that we had the opportunity to spend that time together, rather than dwelling on how much we wish we could spend more time together usually. It is part of the sacrifice of all serving God where we believe He wants us.

A few photos:

"I love my cousin!"

family time

No big news to report - we've been spending time with my parents, keeping Simon busy and starting to get on with support raising.

I had my 20-week scan on Thursday and the baby is growing well and looking healthy. The sonographer was brilliant - not only friendly but also taking the time to point everything out in detail. Even things like the four chambers of the baby's heart, which part of the brain controls movement and so on. It was good to know that the placenta is nice and high up, so no potential problems for delivery.

Later today Ruth (one of my sisters), Rob (my bro-in-law) and Andrew (my nephew) arrive to spend a few days with us. My other sister Ali has taken the week off work too. We are very rarely all together, so this is a real blessing!

Out on a walk at Priory Park: